


your picture's still hung up

by stirfry



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: 5 Seconds of Summer - Freeform, Fluff and Angst, High School AU, M/M, Mutual Pining, panic attack/anxiety trigger warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-08
Updated: 2015-05-08
Packaged: 2018-03-29 14:09:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3899203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stirfry/pseuds/stirfry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>luke stares back at the older boy (man?) in awe at how different he looks from when he was twelve and promising luke forever. </p><p>but from the way he runs a huge hand through his unruly hair and scoffs out an awkward breathy laugh when luke still hasn't responded, the blonde boy knows ashton is still exactly the same as he was when he was twelve and setting promises he couldn't keep.</p><p>luke also knows he is completely fucked. the guy is fucking breathtaking.<br/>-</p><p>or, ashton and luke have known each other since they were eight and ten years old but haven't spoken since they were ten and twelve. </p><p>they're seventeen now and a series of events occur.</p>
            </blockquote>





	your picture's still hung up

**Author's Note:**

> my maths is probably really bad with the ages of lauren and harry and stuff so i'm sorry about that lmao but otherwise enjoy and let me know what you think!!!  
> (lower case intentional by the way)

* * *

**2006.**

"luke," liz said to her youngest son, who was currently not listening to her. "we're going down the road to see the neighbours, they invited us over for a welcoming barbecue and you're coming. go get your shoes and your boardies on, they have pool." liz ruffled his hair as she walked past and into the kitchen.

luke squeaked out a little grunt from his spot on the couch, and turned his head away from where he was watching Spongebob on the family TV.

"i don't want to mum, i don't know anyone. nobody will like me." he pouted, crossing his arms and staring grumpily at his amused mother. _  
_

"your dad and brothers are already down there, just go play with them and you will make friends with the other kids. calum is there too, luke. i thought you loved calum!" liz smiled fondly at her grumpy son and took his hand, pulling him gently towards the door and handing his thongs to him.

"but the other kids are old. like jack and ben. they won't want to play with me mummy." luke looked up at his mother, desperately trying to get her to change her mind. 

"they're only two years older baby, and jack plays with you every day! i'm sure you will be fine. calum will be playing them i'm sure." liz explained as luke hesitantly followed her out the front door.

luke sighed quietly before catching up with her and taking her hand in his as they began the sixty second walk down to the neighbours house.

-

as it turned out, the "old kid" in the group of unfamiliar children was only ten just like jack.

but all the others were about five or six. so luke and calum were stuck watching jack and this other kid try and see who could swim the furthest underwater and three six year olds sliding around on the trampoline in their wet swimmers.

"im so bored." luke complained after about five minutes.

"me too. do you want to go see what jack and ashton are doing?" calum asked, looking over to luke's brother and this newly named ashton playing some form of tag in the swimming pool.

"okay." luke nervously followed his best friend of two weeks over to the swimming pool and slid into the water after him.

"ashton! this is luke. can we play with you?" calum asked the boy. he had long hair and it stuck to his forehead in various places and hazel eyes that smiled brightly at the tiny blonde boy in front of him.

"yea, you're jack's brother aren't you? you can come play tag with us. i'll take care of you. my name is ashton by the way." he spoke very quickly, and before luke could reply, ashton grabbed his hand and pulled him over to one side of the pool.

"okay! we're splitting into two teams! first team to both get tagged loses!" ashton exclaimed, before counting down from three so loudly it hurt luke's ears and diving down into the water after calum.

the rules didn't make much sense to luke and he got tagged in the first two minutes of the game by his own brother, but he was having fun and was glad he had made a new friend. 

-

**2008.**

after the day at ashton's house two years ago, the pair had been inseparable since.

ashton would always invite luke over almost every day to play an xbox game or swim in the pool or jump on the trampoline. sometimes if they were lucky, ashton's mum would give the boys a five dollar note and let them walk down the road to the corner shop and buy a bag of lollies each.

luke loved ashton, but sometimes it was hard to keep up with him both physically and emotionally. ashton was twelve, so he was starting to get more rowdy as he was nearing puberty while luke was only ten and still had a teddy bear and thought girls had cooties. ("they do! ashton, it's  _gross_.")

one day, ashton had taken luke out into his little back yard to play a game of soccer and accidentally pushed luke so hard into the ground that he sprained his wrist and cried very loudly.

"luke! are you okay!" ashton squealed desperately as he carefully lifted luke into a sitting position and tried to examine his hurt arm.

"mum! luke's hurt!" ashton was starting to cry too, as his mum rushed out to where the two boys were sitting and hushed luke gently. 

"where does it hurt, darling?" anne asked. luke sniffled and pointed to his wrist bone, wincing painfully when anne touched it lightly.

"i think it's sprained lukey, how about you wait here with ash and i'll go inside and call your mum to come take you to the doctors okay?" anne gave luke a kiss on the top of the head before heading inside to call liz.

before luke could speak, ashton was very cautiously wrapping the younger boy in what was probably the most gentle hug luke had experienced.

"i'm so sorry lukey. i'll never hurt you again, i love you so much" ashton whispered in luke's ear just as liz sprinted into the backyard to take her injured son away to the doctor.

luke didn't get a chance to reply because of how quickly his mum whisked him away, but he was  absolutely positive that ashton knew how much luke loved him back. 

they never played soccer again no matter how much luke wanted to.

-

a few months after that, ashton's mum had another baby. 

it was the first time luke ever got to hold a baby, which was very special, but it was also the first time luke ever felt extremely jealous.

now that harry was here, ashton couldn't hang out with luke as much because he had to help his mum take care of him and babysit him and play with him and  _blah blah blah._

luke hated it. he just wanted to play with his best friend but he couldn't because of a  _baby_.

so, he told ashton.

"ash i don't like your baby brother. i mean. he's very cute and is fun to make faces at. but he takes up all your time and i barely ever get to play with you anymore."

ashton sighed and took luke's chubby little face into his hands.

"lukey. i told you before, when you sprained your wrist? i told you that i would never hurt you ever again. and that doesn't just mean spraining wrists and breaking legs. it means i won't ever leave you by yourself and hurt your feelings or make you sad. ever. understand? i love you luke, you're my best friend in the whole wide world and i promise i will never leave you. not for my baby brother. not even for my girlfriend when we're really old and cool enough to get girlfriends and stuff. and i definitely won't leave you when i go to big school soon, okay?"

"okay. i love you too ashton." luke smiled up at his best friend and they hugged each other tightly for who knows how long until they were disrupted by harry starting to cry in his crib.

luke just really hoped ashton would keep his promise.

-

**2010.**

he didn't.

it had been almost a year since the two had spoken to each other last.

luke tried not to let it bother him too much, but it just made him a bit sad that ashton hadn't even  _tried_ to keep in contact with him after he started high school.

and it would be different if they lived far apart from each other. but they don't. ashton is only four houses down from luke and is always so close but so  _so_ far away.

the shitty part is that ashton didn't end up getting into the high school he wanted to, so he had to go to an alternate school somewhere else while luke was stuck on his own in year 7 at a high school without even calum to keep him company.

calum had gone to the same school as ashton. 

it didn't bother luke all that much. he didn't think about it every single day, he had made a few new friends at his school and hung out with them more and more and thought about ashton less and less.

occasionally, he would see something ashton posted on facebook or catch him walking twenty meters ahead of him on their way home from school when his bus was a bit early.

but luke couldn't work up the courage to speak to him, so he didn't.

-

**2012.**

luke hemmings hadn't thought about ashton in 2 years. sure, he crossed his mind a few times and what not, but never long enough to start reminiscing on their friendship and making himself sad.

he was fifteen now, and had his best friend michael to replace the void in his heart that had ashton's name written all over it.

luke still spoke to calum sometimes. and he recently discovered that ashton had moved house. 

not to another city or somewhere that takes a thirty minute drive to get there, he just moved two streets away, which made him and luke even further apart, and the void in his heart grow bigger. but luke was using everything he could to ignore it.

-

a few months after this discovery, luke got a facebook message from ashton.

"hey" it said.

hey. 

"haha fuck yea hey to you to, not like you left me for dead at the ripe age of 10 and haven't spoken to me in nearly six years. hey! hows it fuckin goin. ashton irwin. ashton motherfuckin irwin. how are you. 'hey.' hey to you. bitch." luke muttered to himself as he thought out a reply.

"hey..?" he typed back and waited.

"how are you?" ashton replied with.

"i'm okay, yourself?"

"yea i'm good haha"

"i'm glad"

ashton sent a thumbs up emoticon, and didn't speak to him again for another two years.

-

**2014.**

so you could say that the last thing luke expected was his mum to come bursting into his room at nine am on a sunday and start pulling clothes out of his wardrobe.

luke grunted and opened his eyes slightly so he could see his mother.

"mum what the hell are you doing? its like, five am." luke grunted out drowsily and his mum chuckled at his as she continued folding and taking clothes.

"we have guests today baby, i'm just doing a bit of cleaning up and getting some nice clothes out for you to wear. is that alright with mister grumpy pants over here?" she turned to him with an amused expression and luke just groaned.

"who's coming over?" 

"calum and his family. ashton and his family are coming as well, remember ashton? you two were so sweet." his mum said. completely oblivious to the raging emotional shit storm she had just set upon her youngest child.

"what? are you serious? mum, we haven't even _thought_ about associating with them in like, four years? why are they coming? what the fu-"

"lucas. be nice. you and ashton loved each other when you were younger, i couldn't get you away from each other. i'm sure you will be fine. think of it as a reunion." liz smiled at her wide eyed son but it soon faded when she noticed his eyes brimming with tears.

"why didn't you tell me? how long have you known they were coming? i could've prepared myself for this. oh my god. oh my god, mum i can't do it. mum." luke panicked, sitting up and gripping his hair with his hands, squeezing his eyes shut.

liz sat down next to him and rubbed circles into his back. 

"its, okay luke, take deep breaths baby. i assure you i didn't know they were coming until about an hour ago when joy called me to ask if it was alright that they tag along. i thought it would be nice. i can cancel, if you're worried about it?" she spoke softly and luke shook his head,

"no its ok. i'm just overreacting, i'll be fine." the seventeen year old put on what he hoped was a reassuring smile and got out of bed on wobbly legs to proceed with the day.

-

thats how luke ended up here, on his balcony, in tight black skinny jeans and a flannel and his hair gelled to its maximum quiff capacity, waiting for a giant hole in the ground to open up and swallow him so he doesn't have to take part in this social event.

he prays to whatever high power that there may be that calum's family arrives first so he can hide behind his friend when his certain doom arrives.

obviously, the high powers were not being very kind to him today as he hears his mother squealing out greetings, and also what was unmistakably ashton's mother's voice.

"shit." luke whispers to himself, trying to suppress the panic he can feel bubbling in his chest as he wipes his palms on his jeans.

luke hears a little boy's voice and is confused for a split second until he realises it's harry. who is probably about eight now.

which makes ashton nineteen.

luke's in the middle of deciding whether to focus on not dry heaving out his lungs or not pushing his sweaty hands through his hair to pull on it and calm him down when he hears ashton's voice.

he hears him greet liz and then his unmistakeable giggle that is still exactly the same and it sets off another load of fireworks in his gut.

"luke! come inside and greet the guests please!" he hears his mother yell and his body moves before his brain does, carrying him quickly into the kitchen and stopping immediately when he sees ashton and his family.

theres anne, who looks the same but with a few more crinkles and laughter lines in her face. she walks over and embraces luke in her arms, and he hugs her back which still feels familiar after four years.

"luke! oh my word you're handsome! it's been so long darling how have you been!" anne exclaims, and luke answers weakly that he's good before looking at the tiny blonde boy in front of him. 

luke can barely remember what harry looked like when he was younger, but now he is a very cute young boy who stares up at luke with a huge smile on his face and luke smiles back.

"hey little man, how's it going?" luke asks, crouching down slightly talk to him.

"I'm good!" harry squeaks and luke smiles at him.

he stands up straight to greet lauren with a hug and then hesitantly pulls away to see her brother properly for the first time in four years. and holy  _shit._

 

luke and ashton make eye contact, and its like the fireworks that were going off before were just little sparks. warning flares. but now there's atomic bombs going on inside his body and he's struggling to breathe and luke thinks ashton can see he's panicking because the younger boy is suddenly enveloped in the elder's arms. (which are very toned, luke notices through his haze).

they stand there for a while. just wrapped in each other's arms and each boy taking in what they can while they're standing this close, neither of them making a move to let go.

luke realises he's actually a solid two inches taller than ashton now, and is broader than him by a long way. which feels odd because ashton was usually the dominant figure in their friendship and now the roles have reversed.

they pull away from each other with a mutual silent agreement and take a few steps back to gaze at each other. neither of them realising that their mothers and ashton siblings have left the room. 

"well, hey i guess." luke says, admiring what he missed of this boy these past four years and what changes have been made while he wasn't by his side. 

"hey." ashton responds quietly, letting out a soft giggle and pulling his bottom lip between his teeth as he looks at luke with an expectant look across his features. his eyes squinting at the corners as he tries to hold back a smile and eyebrows raised with amusement. 

luke stares back at the older boy (man?) in awe at how different he looks from when he was twelve and promising luke forever. 

but from the way he runs a huge hand through his unruly hair and scoffs out an awkward breathy laugh when luke still hasn't responded, the blonde boy knows ashton is still exactly the same as he was when he was twelve and setting promises he couldn't keep.

luke also knows he is completely fucked. the guy is fucking breathtaking.

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> yea lol, let me know if its ok, and if you would like me to continue. it'll get a lot more interesting and i promise michael will be in it more x  
> and this is my first time writing a fanfic so I'm sorry if it's horrid lmao


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